Vigas: anthological, life and work
By Diana Zárate
El Nuevo siglo
Bogotá, Colombia. July, 2015
Art lovers can appreciate the emblematic work by the Venezuelan sculptor and painter Oswaldo Vigas, one of the most representative artists of Latin America, until August 23 at the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art in the exhibition Antológica 1943-2013, a compilation of the best of his 70 years of creation.
Antológica 1943-2013 is an art exhibition consisting of 70 paintings and five sculptures that tell the experience of the master Vigas in the different artistic currents implemented until his death in 2014. Abstraction and figuration, geometry, archetypes, nature and female figures are part of the influences that inspired Vigas' works.
Works like Tetragramista, Ciudadano elector and Composición IV, made in 1943, until the most recent Maternidad con pájaro and Crucifixión, made in 2013, are part of the exhibition and art tour, which has already visited Lima and Santiago de Chile, and that will continue touring in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Panama City, Mexico City and some cities in the United States before returning to Medellin, Colombia, with new works.
The traveling exhibition, one that Vigas prepared with a lot of enthusiasm, even a few days before his death, and now lead by Janine Castés, his wife, and Lorenzo Vigas, his only son, is not a retrospective: it includes works of almost all his periods and years. It is an anthological exhibition showing important, noted works by the master. Bélgica Rodriguez, art critic and researcher specialist in Latin American art, PhD in art history and a diploma in museology, is its curator.
El Nuevo Siglo spoke with Lorenzo Vigas, master Vigas' son, who told us more about the exhibition Antológica 1943-2013.
El Nuevo Siglo: What is the foundation of the exhibition Antológica 1943-2013?
Lorenzo Vigas: My father was the first Venezuelan artist who took pre-Hispanic art and transformed it into a contemporary work. He made that in the late 40s. You could say that his creation is equivalent to the figure represented by Alejandro Obregón in Colombia.
Vigas was the first Venezuelan artist that breaks up with the academy, and he does so with a somewhat controversial work, his famous Las Brujas series, pre-Hispanic female figures transformed into contemporary art. It made him deserve the most representative awards in Venezuela, being only 23 years old
Having triumphed in Venezuela, my father goes to France where he goes through all periods, starting with the constructivist one, where he takes its first step and it goes into his work. Then, the informalist period starts and he returns to Venezuela, where he worked compulsively until last year, when he died.
Antológica 1943-2013 is the first exhibition showing works of each of the steps of my father's art and in which the change and the influence of his creations will gradually be evident.
ENS: How many pieces make up this exhibition?
LV: This is a very large exhibition, not only for its size, but also for the stories told through it. It consists of 70 paintings and five sculptures.
ENS: With what techniques and materials did the master Vigas synthesize his works?
LV: Although my father explored all plastic forms of expression, painting, drawing, sculpture and tapestry, this exhibition focuses basically on the oil because he was primarily a painter, but five very representative bronze sculptures are also exhibited.
ENS: How was the selection of the works for the exhibition?
LV: The curator Bélgica Rodríguez, art critic and writer, made the selection. Her work was based on understanding my father's works and recognizing in which of them the change of artistic movement is evident.
ENS: Does this exhibition have a meaning external to the artistic meaning?
LV: This exhibition is very important right now, since Venezuela is going through a period of cultural and economic isolation. This exhibition on display in Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina, gives added value to art and helps an erudite integration between brotherly countries.